CP of Israel: Nation-State Law reeks of fascism, apartheid

On July 19, Israel’s Knesset adopted a Basic Law defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and reserving the right of self-determination to the Jewish people alone, to the exclusion of Israel’s Palestinian citizens. The law also calls for the expansion of ‘ethnic communities’ (settlements) and stipulates Hebrew religious law as the inspiration for Israeli legislators. In response, the Communist Party of Israel issued the following statement warning of the racist and fascist nature of the legislation and calling for broad unity against the Netanyahu government and its apartheid policies.

The need today is to strengthen the unity of the Palestinian citizens’ struggle, and to form the broadest Jewish-Arab front to fight fascism.

The Communist Party of Israel considers the Basic Law “Israel-the Nation State of the Jewish People” to be a serious fascist step aimed at undermining the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people, and at the elimination of the rights of the refugees. This law eliminates the national and basic rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, since the nation-state bill establishes a formal apartheid system in Israel.

This basic law falls within the framework of the Israeli policy of denying the national and historic rights of the Palestinian people in their homeland, and conforms to the Netanyahu government’s policy of making enemies of the Palestinian citizens of Israel and delegitimizing their citizenship. All this points to a new and dangerous right wing deterioration in the direction of fascism, which not only threatens a national minority, but also has implications for the democratic process and grants constitutional legitimacy to the long practiced policy of discrimination and racism.

The Communist Party reiterates its well-known historical position: that the Palestinian citizens of Israel are indigenous people of this land, and have no other homeland—and no racist or fascist action of any racist government can change that. These Palestinian masses, who now number nearly one and a half million, are committed to their homeland and their rights within it.

This inadmissible racist legislation, in parallel with annexation and occupation plans for the Occupied Territories and the Negev, reaffirms that the Israeli strategy—supported by the U.S. administration and in collusion with the Gulf regimes—aims at the final elimination of the possibility of an independent Palestinian state within the June 4, 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, and including a just solution to guarantee the return of the refugees as mandated by U.N. resolutions, as well as the rights of Palestinians, citizens of Israel, to full equality in national and civil rights in their homeland. It is not surprising that the fascist right and the racist, Islamophobic and Anti-Semitic forces in Europe and the United States applaud this law and are inspired by the “Israeli national model”, that is, the model of national chauvinism, religious fundamentalism and the oppression of minorities.

What is most needed from us today is unity in the struggle of the Palestinian citizens of Israel in the face of this authoritarian escalation, through their representative bodies. At the same time, another thing required today is not only to prevent the isolation of the Palestinian citizens in their battle, but also to bring together all those affected by the government’s approach and to build the build the largest possible Jewish-Arab front to resist fascism. The Communist Party also calls on all revolutionary and progressive forces in the region and the world to step up the struggle against this criminal policy, which will bring nothing but disaster to the region and its people.

The Communist Party reaffirms its support for all the steps taken by the Joint List and the Higher Follow Up Committee, and calls on the Arab and Jewish masses, especially the younger generation, to participate actively in the coming struggles to defeat racism and overthrow this government.

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